Black Bird

Jimmy Keene is offered a dangerous way to shorten his prison sentence: move into a different facility and get close to a man suspected of crimes the investigators cannot yet prove. Black Bird builds its suspense around the effort to make that man talk.

Taron Egerton gives Jimmy the confidence of someone accustomed to persuading people. Paul Walter Hauser makes Larry Hall much harder to read than that confidence can comfortably handle. The conversations are the attraction. Jimmy has to listen to disturbing material without reacting in a way that closes the conversation or exposes his purpose.

The six-part dramatisation draws on Keene's account, with Dennis Lehane developing the material for television. Ray Liotta's father figure adds a life outside the prison without removing the pressure inside it.

It is a strong choice for a concentrated, performance-led crime drama, although the subject matter is bleak. Mindhunter offers the closest comparison in its attention to listening, questioning and the limits of understanding a suspect. This version puts the listener in a much more vulnerable position.